(Berlin) Production is at a standstill in the German factories of the Volkswagen brand, including the group’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, due to a major computer failure which has affected the car manufacturer since midday, a company said on Wednesday. spokesperson.

“The VW brand factories are at a standstill in Germany,” a spokesperson, Christian Schiebold, told AFP in the evening.

In addition to Wolfsburg, the group’s largest factory, the Emden, Zwickau, Osnabrück and Dresden sites are also affected by this problem, the cause of which has not yet been identified.

Other brands of the leading European manufacturer are also affected, added the spokesperson, without being able to specify to what extent.

The disruptions began midday at 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The Volkswagen Group has ten brands, including Audi, Seat and Skoda. VW, the eponymous brand, is the most important.

According to the business daily Handelsblatt, factories of the Audi brand are also disrupted, as well as group sites outside Germany.

The German manufacturer is engaged in a historic transformation to convert to electric and digital mobility, investing tens of billions of euros in these changes against a backdrop of difficult economic conditions, due to inflation.

In particular, in China, its first market, it faces competition from the American Tesla and local electric car manufacturers who threaten the domination it has long exercised thanks to its sales of traditional engines.

In the first half of 2023, Volkswagen’s vehicle deliveries in China fell by 1.2% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.